Shadowed Past: Truth Within the Darkness
by SapphireKitti
Summary: This is the REWRITTEN version of "Shadowed Past." Sequel to "Shadowed Photo." A year after the Space Coloney ARK Incident, an alien race known as The Black Arms invade Earth! As Ruby struggles with a strange new power, she is reunited with Shadow! ...only to discover that he suffers from amnesia, and is collecting the Chaos Emerald to discover the truth to his past.
1. Calm Before the Storm

**Hi there!**

**This story is the REWRITTEN, new, and improved version of "Shadowed Past" that was written a few years ago. Due to certain life circumstances, I stopped updating the story. I reunited myself with Fanfiction a few months ago and decided to give this fanfic another go… with some MAJOR changes. To tell you guys the truth, I never stopped thinking about this story. I would occasionally reread it, try to figure out how to finish it, got frustrated, then gave up. So, I decided to rewrite it! I'm still a Sonic fan at heart, and I think about the characters occasionally. I feel like I HAD to finish this story… because leaving something unfinished that I put so much time and effort in… really sticks to you, you know?**

**I'm not going to put the old version down for now (if it becomes an issue, I will, though), if you guys are interested on how different my writing has changed. **

**IMPORTANT: This is the sequel to my very first fanfic, "Shadowed Photo." It's… uh, well, quite old and a little, um, different then my current style. But I HIGHLY recommend you should at least breeze through it so you know what's going on in this one. If not, just do your best to follow along. This story is based after the "Shadow the Hedgehog" game.**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the Sonic characters; they are owned by SEGA. I own Ruby Gemmon and Leo Richards.**

* * *

Calm Before the Storm

Aunt Topaz parked the car on Shoreline Lane. As soon as the car made a full and complete stop, Leo and I hopped out.

"…So I'll pick you guys up at 8:00pm, alright?" Aunt Topaz asked as she leaned out of the open car window. She lifted up her sun glasses to make eye contact with me. When Aunt Topaz makes full eye-contact with you, she wants a definite answer. There had been times I would say I'd meet her at a location… and show up an hour later. That didn't settle too well with my parents at the time being. From then on, they made sure that when I made a promise to meet up with Aunt Topaz, I kept to it. She was a G.U.N. agent, after all; she could "use force to get me to cooperate."

My eyes flicked back to her. "Yeah, okay, I promise. Really, this time."

"You sure about that?" I wasn't facing towards Leo, but I could just imagine the smirk on his face. "Maybe you should send a search party or something in about an hour—just in case." Leo's ever-so friendly blue eyes always gave off an amused look. His eyes seemed to reflect any amount of light, no matter how little there was.

That was my cue to roll my eyes. "Yes, Aunt Topaz. After all, knowing his luck, _Leo_ here," my right hand on my hip, and pointing with my left hand towards Leo, "he's going to be the one who will forget what street to meet up at."

Leo was about to open his mouth to retort with an equally sarcastic comment before Aunt Topaz interrupted, "Just so we're clear—who can tell me where we're meeting up at?"

Leo and I answered in unison, an oddly unique gift we seemed to occasion have, "At the Station Square bus station."

"_Which_ one?" She asked more specifically.

I answered, "The one that is three blocks away from Sunset Hotel."

"And are you to going to go _on _the bus?"

"No, ma'am," Leo politely answered. "Unless Ruby wants to head to California to get some souvenirs."

_Or I could stuff you in a suitcase…_

I chuckled to myself, the thought of an unlucky passenger opening up their suitcase to discover and 12-year-old boy tumbling out. Oh, actually, Leo just turned ,13-years-old last week. I'm going to turn thirteen in about a month and a half, in July.

Fun fact: that's why my name is "Ruby." July's birth stone is a ruby. It's kind of a tradition for girls in my family to be named after their birth stones (I can't believe I didn't mention that before…)

"Alright, I'll see you at 8:00pm, then!" Aunt Topaz covered her light blue eyes with her sun glasses again. She started to roll up the window, until she looked as if she just remembered something. "Oh, Ruby, wait a second!" She rolled the window back down before I even had a chance to walk away. As I leaned into the open car window, she spoke low enough so that Leo wouldn't hear.

"Yeah?"

"I know you probably already understand what 'classified information' is… but I'm just repeating what the Commander said earlier-," she lowered her sunglasses down her nose, her crystal eyes flicked with warning, and spoke, almost whispering, "Don't tell your other friends about your _'ability.'_"

I ducked my eyes down when she said that. Did she really think I didn't know better? Did she think I would seriously tell my other friends? Or was she just being my _aunt_, lovingly worrying about me? Probably the latter.

Things had been… crazy. And that's putting it mildly. I mean it. Over a year ago, if I was having problems, I would confide in my friends, besides Leo (I mean with… girly problems). But with the things that have happened to me recently, not so much. It was for their own "protection." And mine.

Six months after the "Space Colony ARK" incident, something… weird happened. When I touched the green Chaos Emerald, it teleported me through time and space twenty feet up in the air! I don't know why or how it happened. If tempered with, Chaos Emeralds could become unstable. But… all I did was _hold_ it. Immediately after that, Aunt Topaz took me to a G.U.N. special division that researches the power of the Chaos Emeralds. This division was created shortly after Sonic and the others made it onto my planet. Aunt Topaz just wanted to make sure that whatever had happened when the emerald "teleported" me, that it didn't hurt me. And to calm my parents down. They didn't see what had happened, but they were concerned, as any other parents would be. My little brother, Ricky, just thought I did a magic trick.

My parents took Leo home was was asked not to discuss with his folks about what happened until after we figured out if I was going to be okay. Aunt Topaz took me, my mom, and my dad to the research facility. The good news was: it didn't hurt me in any traumatic way. The doctors commented on how good my physical health was, too. Except for one thing. The bad news… was that when they scanned my body for Chaos Energy… they found some. Inside my body. _I had Chaos Energy inside my body._ And no one knew why.

I think anyone else who were told that they had a foreign energy inside their body would have been petrified. I was scared, but more than anything I was… dumbfounded. My parents were too shocked to think of anything comforting to say to me, not that I could blame them. But the simplest, most terrifying question was hanging in the air.

_What is going to happen to me?_

It's been over six months since I went to the research facility, and that question still scares me. Since I'm obviously at the beach _today_, it means that they didn't… do something else with me.

"I know." I finally managed to respond. I still couldn't look at her in the eyes. I felt Aunt Topaz's hand reach out and touched the top of my head, ruffling my shoulder length, brown hair. I managed to fake a smile.

Aunt Topaz revved up the engine of her Camry, shouted, "Have fun, kids!" And left a nice cloud of dust in her wake.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Leo tying one of his shoe laces. When he rose, he dusted off his grey, camouflage shorts, and adjusted his brand new _Slipknot_ t-shirt. He recently took a liking to the color black for some time now, not to mention his taste in metal/hard rock/punk music. He stepped over to me with the slightest bounce in his step and asked, "So what was that all about?"

I rolled my eyes, hoping the gesture would lighten my already solemn mood. "She just told me about 'not telling everyone else I might be a ticking time bomb ready to blow up.'"

Leo laughed at the joke, but then said, "Seriously, though—you know you're _not_ going to blow up, right? Didn't the scientists already confirm that?"

"Yeah, I know. But that doesn't mean they'll think otherwise." I groaned at the memory of the other day.

Now _that's _a bit of a story. Around the time I was examined, I was away from home for almost one and a half months. It wasn't like I was a prisoner or anything, but I didn't have any outside interactions for a _long_ time. Before the scientists could consider me "a threat," Aunt Topaz and my family made a call. They called in "the big guns." Almost quite literally. Aunt Topaz and Rouge are in charge of stealth missions for G.U.N., and she is higher up on "the ladder." From what I've been told, she's not exactly "in charge" of anything major, but she has respect from a lot of her colleagues. And whenever Aunt Topaz or Rouge receive a mission, they get it directly from the "Big Cheese" himself—

Commander Tower.

And he lives up to that name. As the name "Tower" would imply, he is built as such, with a strong structure. He has to be at least six-foot-five! Commander Tower is almost sixty-years-old, too—his hair has already turned a dark grey. And_ boy_, his expression could could freeze your soul! The Commander is definitely not a push over, and his face could tell you that much. He has a very hard expression 24/7.

One of the most… peculiar things about him, though—are his _eyes._ The Commander has one blue eye (right) and one brown eye (left)—two different colors! Other than that, I really don't know too much about him. I've only met him a few times, including when Aunt Topaz called him in to see if he could help me.

Considering that he is the _Commander_ of the Guardians of the United Nations, he definitely helped me with my situation. Somehow, instead of being locked up in some research facility, he was able to let me live a normal life—meaning I was still able to live with my family and such. _With one exception:_ I am now classified under G.U.N. jurisdiction. That means that G.U.N. can check up on my activity anytime, anywhere. I also have to take mandatory "check-ups" every week.

I'm sorry I sound very naïve now, but I really don't know _how_ exactly he was able to do it. I know he's a higher-up, one of the highest places you can go in the government, but… he seemed to do it so effortlessly. It couldn't just be because he has more political authority. Whatever the case is—as long as I keep my "condition" a secret, everything will be fine.

"Hey, blowing things up is _my_ job!" Leo boasted, bringing me back. "Don't try to take my job just yet—I haven't even gotten employee of the month!"

Leo was never one for taking things seriously unless the situation is dire. Well, even then, he might not always take things seriously. Typical Leo.

Leo has been up to speed about the situation, too. Since he was with me during the Space Colony ARK incident, the scientists have run some tests on him, too. So far, nothing has come up. They only paid attention to Leo for about a week. Then all eyes were on me. I'm _so_ lucky.

For some reason, thinking about all of this was putting me in a sour mood. "Leo…" I started in a warning tone.

"I was just kidding, Ruby." Leo gave me a reassuring half-smile. I almost thought he was being serious with that "blowing up statement."

_I told him what happened yesterday, doesn't he consider how touchy I am on the topic right—_

I shook it out of my mind. Today was not about thinking about what happened _yesterday_, with my little, um, "accident."

It's not I planned to destroy the r—

_No, no, no! Stop thinking, you idiot!_

Things were finally going my way in life, so I wanted to stay outside and _enjoy_ it with my friends. And _nothing_ was going to get in my way on having a good day—even if it kills me!

Relaxed a more fully composed, I glanced back up at Leo. "When did Sue say she was getting here?"

Leo glanced at his black and red electronic watch. "She said by four o'clock. It's a little before 4:10pm. Maybe she and her dad ran into traffic. Oh, and she said she was going to pick up Molly, too."

_Ping-pong!_

My cell phone went off, meaning I received a text message. My new cell phone was an early birthday present from my parents. They were originally going to wait until my 13th birthday, but decided with all the craziness going on, they would give it to me now. The down side is that I don't have a huge text plan, so I couldn't text a lot like all of my other friends could. Which was fine when being—I still had to get used to my phone. It's pretty standard looking as far as a cell phone; the kind that flips open and has a normal key pad. Nothing too fancy.

**1 Text from Sue **

"Speak of the devil," my brows raised in mild amusement. As I glanced over the text, my brows drastically decreased into a disappointed scowl.

"Awww, you've _got _to be kidding me!" I exasperated.

"What? What happened? Is she going to be an hour late again?" Leo crossed his arms, asking the question like it was no surprise. Sue was usually the last to arrive at a gathering.

I shook my head, "No, worse. She's not coming!"

"WHAT!" Leo dramatically threw his arms up in the air. Normally, he would shrug off the sudden rain check, but we had planned this gathering for the past two weeks. Since the craziness had died down, it left me more time to hang out with my long-awaited friends. "Come on! Whyyyyyy?"

I scrolled back up to the text message and read it out loud, "Ruby, I'm so sorry, but dad says the weather isn't looking too good for the beach. Weather man said a very bad-looking storm is going to hit real soon, so he's not taking me. I'm so, so, SOOOOOO sorry, Ruby! :'("

I was still looking at the text message when Leo scoffed in disbelief. He prattled on how typical it was that Sue and Molly canceled _now_ of all times.

"I mean, go figure! She's the one who's been complaining about how she never sees you! And now this crap happens! If this is some stupid, 'revenge' plot for not talking to her in so long, I swear, I'm going to give her a piece of my—it's not even your fault either! And it's not like you can _tell _her…"

Since Leo was the only one outside of my family that knew what was going on with me, I had kept my distance from my friends for some time. I made some excuse that I caught a very bad virus while my family was on vacation in Brazil (I have never been to Brazil… darn it), and had regular examinations for the doctors to make sure no symptoms would come back. Some of my friends were still really peeved that I didn't keep them up to date on how my "illness" was going. Maybe Sue was one of them and didn't want to be my friend anymore.

_Not that I could blame her…_

I started to think that until the wind picked up a bit. My arms got goose bumps, despite the fact I was wearing a dark pink quarter-sleeved shirt with my thin, short-sleeved grey hoodie over. It zipped up half way up my stomach, and was slightly shorter than the shirt I was wearing. I could feel a shiver starting from my legs-which the sky blue shorts only went slightly above me knees and all the way up my spine. As I glanced towards the sky, I didn't see anything but a nice clear day and some fluffy, perfect clouds. I then noticed the clouds' movements, they were starting to pick up speed. I looked forward, past Leo, and sure enough, I saw a few dark clouds fast approaching.

"Oh."

_On second thought, perhaps I shouldn't jump to conclusions._

Leo followed my gaze, and turned around to the dark clouds that I was looking at. "Ohhhh." He echoed. Finally, he added. "Well, this sucks."

"Yeah… but, man this is weird! I've checked the weather every single day! And it said 'clear skies with a few scattered clouds.'"

Leo used his hand to shade his eyes, trying to judge the clouds. We probably had less than an hour before the storm would hit.

"I hate to say it, but I think our beach day is over." I said glumly.

"It's not over, it didn't even start!" Leo acted as if he was correcting me. "Man! And I've practiced my serves, too! I was totally gonna to beat Molly this time!" Leo is not the best volleyball player. That didn't stop him from practicing his serves ever since school ended for the year. My friend Molly is one of the best volleyball players at my middle school. I'm nowhere near as good as Molly is… but… I'm a lot better at serving than Leo is (no offence, Leo!).

"Come on, let's find a shop or something if it starts getting bad out here." I started walking across the street, to the line of shops.

Leo followed, falling in step with me. "You gonna call Topaz?"

"Yeah, as soon as we find somewhere to stop."

"Can't you just call her _while_ we're walking? That's what a cell phone is for!"

"Well, Mr. Smarty Pants, why don't you use YOUR cell phone? Didn't you just get one last week?"

"Well, Mizz Fox, I don't have Topaz's—oh, hey! There, that convenience store is open!"

Leo and I headed inside the deserted store. The only person there was the sleepy cashier behind the register. There were a couple of chairs and tables to the side of the story, and a small television above the packs of cigarettes. It looked like a news program had just popped up.

The cashier looked middle-aged, slightly balding hair-line, and bags under his eyes. He briefly looked up from his paper. "Hey, can I help you kids? If you need to use the bathroom, it's for customers only."

"No," I politely stated, "We're just waiting for someone to pick us up because of the storm that's coming. Is it okay if we stay in here?"

"What, so you can loiter my store?" The man glared.

"Uh—no, that's not—"

He laughed in a tired, wheezy tone. "I'm just pulling your leg, squirt. Yeah, sure, take a seat if you want. If you want something to drink, all sodas are $1.50. Ice tea and lemonade is $1.25, and water is just $1.00."

"We're good, but thank you." I smiled back. Before I forgot, I took out my cell phone and texted Aunt Topaz about our rain check.

**Bad storm coming our way. Beach day cancelled. Please pick us up when you can.**

"And 'send.'" I mumbled. The icon of an envelope being whisked away flashed on the screen, and then disappeared. I snapped my phone shut with a satisfying "snap" and moved to one of the tables.

Just as Leo and I were about to shimmy to our seats, I got a glimpse of the back of the news paper the man was reading. And I saw a familiar looking hedgehog on the cover.

A _very_ familiar looking hedgehog.

I walked over to the man almost too abruptly. "Sir—" I had to calm down or was going to sound panicked, "Do you have an extra copy of today's paper?"

"Yeah, right there. " He motioned to the rack to his right with his head, and proceeded to read the rest of his article.

I grabbed the paper and briskly walked over to the table that Leo was sitting at. I frantically flipped through the pages while Leo was fiddling through his phone.

"What page was it?! 3A, 4A, 4B, 5B… THERE!"

Still standing, I slammed my desired page on the table with enough force to snap Leo out of his cell phone trance.

"Whoa, what?!" Leo almost fell backwards out of his seat.

"_**Look.**_" I demanded him. We both nodded down to the article.

**NEW UPDATE ON SONIC'S LAST ADVENTURE DEALING WITH EGGMAN! SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG WAS SIGHTED DURING THE FINAL BATTLE! WHOSE SIDE IS HE ON NOW?**

We both looked up at each other, almost pain staking slowly. Leo lifted to paper to read the rest of the article. I stepped to his side so that I could read it over his shoulder.

"_Three months ago, Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles 'Tails' Prower, and Knuckles the Echidna—along with three other teams, who were connected with Sonic and his world—battled against Dr. Ivo Robotnic, a.k.a. Dr. Eggman's greatest and deadliest robotic threat yet, Metal Sonic. The other teams included the Amy Rose Hedgehog, Cream the Rabbit, Big the Cat; Team Chaotix—Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon, and Charmy Bee; followed by one of Dr. Eggman's robots gone rogue, E-123 Omega; and Rouge the Bat, a member of G.U.N.. But the most surprising character was the hedgehog whom everyone thought was dead due to the Space Colony ARK incident that happened over a year ago: Shadow the Hedgehog."_

"Looks like those rumors we heard a while back were true!" Leo declared. "Shadow _is_ alive!"

"Shh! Read the rest of it."

"_Shadow the Hedgehog, proclaimed the Ultimate Life Form, and created by Professor Gerald Robotnik—Dr. Eggman's grandfather—over fifty years ago. According to a reliable source whose identity is asked to remain unknown—"_

"Gee, I wonder _why?_" I asked rhetorically. Leo made a "tch" sound in agreement as we kept reading.

"—_Shadow was supposedly pronounced dead as he and our hero, Sonic the Hedgehog, saved the planet from certain destruction. Regarding the incident three months ago, the public believed that Shadow is fighting on the side of good. However, some skeptics believe otherwise."_

"_Really?_" Leo groaned is disbelief.

"_Is Shadow truly a hero now? Has he faced the errors of his ways from a year ago? Will he now join the rest of Sonic, Tails, and their friends on keeping the balance of our beloved Earth? Or is he still a supposed 'weapon' created for mass destruction and chaos? With everything considered, it all comes down to one question: Is he good or evil?"_

"Ugh, I can't read much more of this…" I flipped the paper down in disgust. To even suggest Shadow being evil made me burn with anger. Leo just shook his head. I could tell he wanted to say something, too, but for whatever reason, nothing came out. He opened and closed his mouth as if to start a sentence. I guess he just couldn't find the words to express his thoughts.

_He's __**not**__ evil. He's just not. Him saving the freakin' planet a year ago proves that much!_

However, deep down, I knew the reporter purposely wrote the article to describe both sides of the arguments so that people would _think._ Last year, I had some interest in photography and reporting. That interest is what got me in trouble with Shadow and Eggman in the first place! I read a few books on how to perfect at reporting like a good journalist. One of the tips that I picked up was, _"A journalist seeks the truth, and each truth has two or more sides to it. It is important that the journalist researches all possible sides of the argument before coming to a conclusion."_

"Just who does this guy think he is?!" I flipped the page over, skipping the rest of the article to find the writer's name at the very bottom.

_Written by C. E. Thorndike_

I wasn't about to forget that name. I made a tear on the newspaper around the outline of the article, making sure that I didn't forget the back of the paper. I neatly folded the article and stuffed it in my back pocket. I think this "Thorndike" guy deserved a nice, anonymous letter in for the "Readers' Reactions" section.

As informative as the article was, it really wasn't a surprise to me. When I first heard of the possibility that Shadow was alive, I felt so… relieved. I could have cried. The problem was that _no one_ would tell me whether it was true or not! I figured if anyone would know, it would be Rouge. Oh, but what does Aunt Topaz and everyone else tell me? "Sorry, Ruby. Rouge said she had business to take care of. I'm sure she'll be back soon." Nope. Her "important business" was probably going after Knuckles' Master Emerald. _**Again.**_ I hadn't seen Rouge since I heard the rumors, too.

"It explains why we haven't seen Rouge in a while…" I thought out loud, giving a sigh.

"Well, yeah, that too—HEY! EARTH TO RUBY! Shadow is _alive!_ Isn't this the part where you jump up and down for joy and start crying tears of joy?!" Leo was ecstatic by now. You could see his blue eyes brighten up, almost turning an electric, icy color.

That reaction had already happened three months ago when I heard for the first time that Shadow _might_ be alive. But I had no proof, and even Aunt Topaz would dodge my questions about it. I'm not a genius by a long-shot, but my gut was telling me something was fishy about this WHOLE situation.

"I _was_ psyched about it. Three months ago. This article only proves that I was right." I stated plainly. "But, that still doesn't explain—" I stopped halfway through my sentence. "Nevermind."

"What? Tell me!" Leo insisted.

"It… it's really stupid." I brushed a strand of my brown hair away, which I grew out a bit. During the ARK Incident, my hair was just a little past my chin and had the slightest wave to it. It was touching my shoulders now, and swayed instead of waved.

"I'm the _King of Stupidity_, remember? I'll be the judge of that." He crossed his arms and pulled his eyebrows into a scowl. I almost giggled a little, since I know he was trying to intimidate me-which wasn't working.

"It's just that…" I began slowly, my words a little sorrowful and slow. "When I first heard that Shadow might be alive, I dunno, I thought that maybe, just maybe… I'd be able to see him again."

Leo's scowl softened, but he didn't break eye contact with me. He finally nodded, understanding where I was coming from.

Suddenly, I felt a need to defend myself. "But—but it's not like I was expecting anything like an invitation or something! Just, you know, wanted to say something like, 'Hi again! Glad you're alive! How are ya?' Th-that's all, really."

Silence. Awkward silence, which was my least favorite silence of all. I kept talking, hoping to fill in the awkwardness.

"Like, I mean, I'm not saying he _had_ to deliberately come see me. It's just, the last time that I saw him, he kinda, you know, teamed up with Sonic to save the planet. And well, I wanted to... to thank him for that."

When I looked back up, Leo wasn't even looking at me anymore. His eyes fixated on the window.

_First he wanted me to spill my guts out and now he's ignoring me. Wow, Leo. You really ARE a typical boy._

My irritation snapped for a split second. "Hey! Are you even listening to me?!"

"Ruby," Leo said in a warning tone. "I think we should get home."

"You weren't listening. Well, thanks a lot, butt-head. You _reeeeaaaaally _had me going there!"

He turned his face back at me, his expression panicked. "RUBY!"

"WHAAAAT!"

"Look. Out. Side."

And _then_ I looked outside. "Oh God."

It was nothing short of _Mount Doom_ outside the convenience store. The clouds had turned from a dark grey overcast to _red_. The sky looked like it was about to rain blood, I'm not kidding. And it was lightening like the world was going to split into two. The palm trees by the beach were almost falling over, and everyone was running to get inside. The wind was picking up faster than before—paper, dust, bottles, plants started flying everywhere. And the direction the wind was blowing, it looked like Downtown Station Square was going to get hit the worst.

But with what?

Leo and I looked at each other with equally shocked, yet resolved expressions out our faces that could only mean one thing.

_Something bad is going to happen._

Before the cashier could ask us where we were going, Leo and I bolted out of the shop and ran towards Downtown Station Square. Leo and I live just outside of the city in a suburban area, away from the crowded city life. But it's literally a twenty-minute drive and you're there. It was roughly twelve blocks away, which is a bit of walk, but we booked it over there like we were Olympic sprinters.

I kept that single thought in mind as we ran down the sidewalks of the once busy, but organized city. Leo pushed himself so he was at least two steps ahead of me as we frantically ran. Running home seemed the most logical thing to do. Whatever was going to happen, we needed to get ready. We needed find our families. We needed to find answers to our questions. We needed to make sure that everyone was safe. We staggered and sprinted through the streets like there was no tomorrow.

Because for all that we knew… there might not _be _a tomorrow.

We only picked up speed when the clouds turned blood-red above us, swirling in dark circles. The clouds started to mix a dark, nightmarish red with ominous black clouds twisting tighter and tighter in the center of the city. Lightening cracked through the sky, hitting one of tallest radio towers in the city, sending a crackling rumble through building.

I could practically feel the adrenaline running through my veins as my legs pumped my body to go to its limit. I was slightly ahead of Leo now, despite the fact he was got a head start. Then he started to slow down drastically. Thinking he was hurt, or exhausted, I stopped to ask him what was wrong. Before I could say anything, I picked up on the direction he was facing.

Up.

The sky was falling.

* * *

**Sweet baby chocolate cakes, I did it! I could kiss myself right now! Wait…**

**First chapter down and I'm already excited. Heh.**

**That being said—would you kindly review and critique? Thank you so much!**


	2. Revelations

**Yeah, I tweaked my penname. Finally. Years ago, when I made this account, I made a typo with "sapphire" and only spelled it with one "p." Ah, to be young and lacking spell check… (My penname used to be "saphireKat.")**

**I'm sorry for taking forever to update. But I promise I will NOT drop this story. I've waited too long to rewrite this story to just drop it like a hot potato. The fall semester is done now, so I can get more chapters underway.**

**Disclaimer: Sonic is owned by SEGA. I own Ruby and Leo.**

Revelations

* * *

_**A few moments earlier… Outside the city of Station Square…**_

The sky was just starting to turn a warm orange. Faint wisps of clouds swirled in the warm sunset. Despite the warmth, it was starting to feel unusually cool, he noted. But it wasn't time for the leaves to start to fall yet, right? It was still summer.

Interesting he should know the seasons. Had he watched the seasons go by before? For all he knew, he could have read about them in a book. Or maybe someone had explained the seasons to him. He had a general awareness that some places on Earth were always hot, while other places were always cold—it all depended on your location, north or south of the equator. But, _why_ did he know this simplistic information? Who or what taught him?

Why was he even thinking about this, anyway?

Actually, there was some point to this. The black hedgehog had knowledge of unimportant things: time, weather, speech, gestures, what is organic and what was inorganic…

And humans. The people of Earth. He knew about them, but he never met any of them formally.

Or _had_ he?

Maybe he did know a few, he _felt_ like he knew a human at one point. Or at least, he must have met another human besides Dr. Eggman. Were all humans like the corrupt doctor? Evil, greedy, cynical, manipulative, and no disregard for life? Was that the human species?

_If that's the case, I have no reason to dally my time with the likes of them._

He inwardly scoffed at himself for even considering an alternative notion. What factor could these silly creatures possibly serve? Entertainment, perhaps. But nothing that could help him accomplish his current goal.

And yet…

The black hedgehog raised his crimson eyes towards the setting sun once again, noticing the light it casted onto the city. Station Square—a place that humans had built from the ground up, by their own hands, their own designs. They created this place from scrap. As useless as they were, they were resilient, he noted.

His thoughts were broken as the wind suddenly picked up. A newspaper drifted before him and caught onto his leg. The indifferent hedgehog merely glanced at it, not even bothering to brush it off. He caught a few words off of the parchment, something about "Fire In the Sky Festival"… but the paper quickly fluttered away, returning Shadow to his thoughts.

"_Shadow the Hedgehog… why does that name haunt me?"_

Shadow narrowed his eyes down at the muddied grass, as if he was searching, not exactly at the ground, but in his mind.

_It's the only thing I can remember._

From the back of his mind, Shadow winced at the sudden recollection. No, that wasn't the _only _ thing he remembered. Shadow grimaced, almost nauseated. That was a lie. It wasn't the only thing he remembered.

"…_and that gruesome image."_

It was extremely vague, but he could remember…

* * *

_Long, but spacious corridors… he was panting heavily, his chest was burning… he could see a thousand tiny lights out the windows as he passed by them, but he wasn't focused on that…_

_He was running from __**something**__. He was running as though his life depended on it—_

_No, not __**just**__ his life. _

_Shadow was grasping the hand of another individual. A delicate, frightened, human girl. Blonde hair wisped behind her… it was pushed back in a blue head band… the same color as her eyes. _

…_and her blue eyes, what were in them? Hopelessness, fear, sadness…? What was-?_

_They abruptly stopped running. The girl gasped._

_He saw their pursuers… a group of… soldiers. Why where they chasing them to begin with._

_The blonde girl reached out to him, panicked._

_The soldier firmly lifted his handgun. The male human's mouth twitched. Was he hesitating-?_

_A loud bang._

"_Maria!"_

* * *

Shadow groggily shook his head, trying to wipe the whole thing out of mind. But… those were the only memories he had prior to waking up. There had to be _some_ sort of truth to them. Why would he only remember those flashes of images to begin with?

"Who am I?" This wasn't the only time Shadow asked himself this question out loud, and he was sure it wouldn't be the last. "Why can't I remember anything?"

Shadows mind flashed back to the blonde girl's frighten face. "And… who is this 'Maria?'"

That girl _had_ to have been "Maria." Why else would he remember calling her name out? That girl _must_ have known him, that part was obvious. But _why?_ And those few flashes of his "forgotten" memories… why were they running from those soldiers? _Where_ were they? He remembered the stars outside the window as they ran… could it have been nighttime?

_And the girl… _

Shadow's brow narrowed, deep in concentration. Trying to rattle his brain for _some_ kind of answer; as pointless as it was.

_What happened to her? Where is she now? _

He wasn't even sure if 'Maria' was still…

…around.

As he pondered this, Shadow began to notice how unusually dark it was getting, considering it was still the late afternoon. Sunset was still hours off. It was probably just an early summer's storm.

But normal storms didn't have red clouds ominously circling in the sky. Shadow watched, mildly curious as the blood colored clouds, mixed with eerie blackness. It seemed to be heading directly towards Station Square. The blood clouds grew darker, and started to swirl around the city.

And then, creatures, monstrous beasts were falling from the sky. They were attacking the human's city. Almost instantaneously, Shadow heard shots fired, explosions and the sheer panic of the population of humans, screaming, running, perhaps some were even dying.

Even at a distance, Shadow could tell the city would not last long. These invaders only arrived seconds ago and the pitiful humans responded in pure chaos. They wouldn't survive at this rate.

"Hmph. Look how pathetic they are." Shadow scoffed. The arrival of the aliens were, indeed, a bit concerning, but getting tangled with humans would only get in his way. He turned to leave, "I have no time for these humans." His tone was nothing short of condescending. They were just hypocritical beings to begin with. Plus, he didn't owe these sad organisms anything.

"**Shadow…"**

Shadow blinked, narrowing his eyes forward, not sure if he had just imagined someone saying his name. The voice didn't sound… real. It was the voice of a dark, whispering nightmare. Had he heard this voice before?

Following the voice, Shadow saw something swiftly floating towards him. A dark, tentacle creature, almost octopus-like—it was traveling like an octopus would underwater, the body scrunched up with the tentacles flowing behind it. It abruptly stopped in front of him, opening its single, monstrous eye. When it did, a projection appeared, and it looked very similar to the black aliens that began to attack the city moments ago! But this one seemed… different.

Shadow noted right away that this figure looked like someone of power. The being wore a black robe that made his whole body look phantom-like, a type of chain with various constellations symbols, such as the sun and the moon, were draped over the robe. He appeared to be floating, which could have been part of his form, or what the projection was showing. The head looked even more like a phantom due to his particular shape… he looked like he had horns that stretched out in opposite directions, tipped red at the end. He also had three eyes, two which were his left and right eye, and the third on his forehead.

"**As you can see,"** the creature began, **"the day of reckoning will soon be here."**

_The day of reckoning…? What does he mean?_

"**Find the seven Chaos Emerald and being the to me as promised."**

"Huh?" Shadow frowned, unsure. This being seemed to _know_ him. "Who are you and how do you know I'm Shadow? And what are you talking about?!"

The projection faded, and the one eyed, tentacle creature flew away as fast as it came. Shadow reached his hand out to try to stop it, until a small explosion covered his vision with dust. He crossed his arms in front of him in a defensive stance, just in time to shield his eyes from the debris from multiple bombs that were falling around him. He heard the explosions from the distance as well, all happening at once. It seemed like the aliens were now using an aerial assault on the city. The first wave of aliens were used to panic the citizens, pour them out into the streets and terrorize them, and getting the military's attention. The bombs were then used to try to destroy a good portion of the city's buildings and military resistance. These invaders knew what they were doing. They had done this before, it seemed.

When the dust settled, Shadow lowered his arms, and blinked a few times, to intake his surroundings. There wasn't as much damage in field around him, at least, not compared to the city. The bombs that fell around him were probably due to bad aim.

"Just what was that all about?" Shadow murmured to himself. "What did that alien mean by '_the day of reckoning_?' And what do _I_ have to do with it? Still…"

Despite Shadow's perplexity of the situation, the dark leader _knew_ Shadow, even if he didn't remember it. "If he says he knows the truths about who I am… then like it or not, I have to believe him."

At long last, this was the break, the clarity that the hedgehog had been desperate for. The alien leader had said something about collecting the seven Chaos Emeralds. The emeralds themselves held an unlimited source of power, which Shadow could manipulate. He was a master of time and space, so the Emeralds _had _to have something to do with why he existed. Shadow curled his arm and clenched his fist, determined by this revelation. "The only way I'm going to get the secrets to my past is to get those Chaos Emeralds!"

With his air shoes, he skimmed across the dying field with fast determination and towards the crumbling city of Station Square.

* * *

Everybody screamed.

Heck, even _Leo _was screaming. Or was he screaming at me…?

I wanted to scream, but when I opened my mouth to let out the shrilling sound… I couldn't make a peep.

When the first wave of aliens fell onto the city, it was instant chaos. These things were all shapes and sizes, too. Leo and I saw a gigantic, Hulk-like alien land on the concrete with enough force to make a dent. When a car that was heading towards it tried to stop before running into it, the alien took one of its dark, mutated arms, backhanded the car, causing it to flip over into a nearby building.

They had wings, too.

No, not all of them. But after the "ground forces" landed on Earth, more black aliens with wings started to appear. They were about as big as I was (maybe even bigger), and looked like a cross between a demonic bat and a dragon, with four eyes on its head. Their wings looked like razors, tipped with red on each of their wings.

After the first of the aliens fell, most of it was a blur. I remember a few clear images of running… a lot.

Leo grabbing my arm.

Covering our heads from debris of one of the office buildings.

A black alien, holding a gun. Firing at a car, blowing it up into multiple metallic pieces.

Soldiers, our soldiers. Trying to get people out of the city. We tried to follow them.

The ground began to crack.

Beams of light blocked our exit.

Both of us tripped.

Leo's knee was bleeding.

But I think we kept going, even though I wanted to bandage it up. Didn't have time.

My throat was on fire.

_I-I need water…!_

_Oh, right. In the middle of a war-zone. Water can wait._

My legs hurt, too. I couldn't tell which pain was worse, my throat or legs. The whole thing was just a… nightmare. A complete and total nightmare. It couldn't have been happening, right? Right?!

My foot got caught on something, which seemed to have been my answer about my dilemma. As my body came crashing down to the destroyed street, it partially brought me out of my shock-induced state. I know I was conscience enough up until this point, but Leo and I were running so fast I didn't notice _what_ my surroundings looked like. I think I _couldn't_ look at it—if I was distracted for too long, Leo and I might not have gotten to this point. Maybe it was a survival instinct, or _fight or flight_ scenario.

The city was wrecked beyond belief.

And that in itself is the understatement of the century.

Scrambling up to all fours, I faced forward to call out for Leo, in case he had run ahead without noticing me. Surprisingly, he was only two feet away. It looked like my tumble had caused him to fall, too, making him land on his back. He was sitting up, supporting part of his weight on his arms.

My throat was beyond dry, but I was able to blurt out, my voice horse, "A-are you okay?! Can you still run?!"

But Leo remained motionless. His face was white as a sheet, save a few scrapes and scuffs. He had bruises and cuts on his legs, and a few on his arms and hands. Luckily, it looked like it wasn't anything serious. I looked just as bad as he did, which in our cases, was pretty lucky.

"Leo…!" I crawled towards him.

I gasped when I realized he was shaking. He was just as scared as I was right now. It was like, as I was coming out of my "shock," Leo went into his own "comma."

I reached out my hand, with the intention of shaking his shoulder, however, due to my physical exhaustion, I missed my mark and ended up slapping him on the forehead. But it _did_ snap him out of his trance.

"Aaaah!" Leo exclaimed. He seemed more responsive now. "What the hell?!"

"Don't yell at me, you moron!" I jabbed my finger into his chest. I knew I was being a bit unfair, but this was no time for sitting around. "You zoned out while we're in the middle of what could be the apocalypse!" I jumped to my feet, now tugging at Leo's arm. "C'mon, we have to run NOW before we get squashed!"

Leo still didn't budge, which made me even more agitated.

"Wait, I think…" Leo stopped midsentence, and perked her head up a bit. "The gunfire doesn't sound that loud anymore. I think we got far enough away from the fight."

He was right. Even though I could still hear smaller explosions and gunfire, it was farther away than it was before.

_But where is everybody?_

In my more composed state of mind, I remembered that Leo and I were following crowds of people on an evacuation route. They had military type vehicles that carried citizens out of the danger zone. Right before Leo and I entered the next vehicle, we saw a beam of light from one of the black ships above us. It was incinerated in front of our eyes.

Luckily, no one had boarded the vehicle. Except for… the driver. That poor soldier was trying to help us get to safety.

_He was a GUN solider, too. I wonder if I ever met him from the research base?_

I shook the thought from my head, but I still felt sorry for him. At least that explained how Leo and I got separated from the evacuation team. Still, it didn't mean we were in the clear, not by a long shot.

"Leo, this is an _invasion._ The fight is _everywhere,_ and I don't want to stick around so it can catch up to us again!"

Leo threw his arms up in the air and exclaimed, "Where the hell are we supposed to go then?!"

Good question. And I had no idea what the answer was. Leo and I were just running around in circles, trying to stay alive. While the fighting had been moved elsewhere, we still need to keep moving in order to stay alive. So where should we go next?

"…it's not like we can go home." My eyes drooped to my muddied sneakers and scuffed pants.

I didn't look at Leo in the eyes, but I heard him gulp. "That… that came out a lot harsher than I wanted it, too."

"No crap, butt-head."

"…you wanna hit me?"

"Well, maybe. But that's not going to help our situation right now."

"I'll put on your tab then."

"Gee, thanks," I managed a snorted laugh. "…Leo, do you think our families are okay?"

I knew Leo was thinking the same thing I was, but he didn't even hesitated to answer. "Considering how fast G.U.N. evacuated the city, I think our neighborhood is just fine. We live a good twenty minutes away."

"I guess it's a good thing that Sue and Molly didn't come to the beach today…" At least they were with their families. But how would we get to ours? Since the last armored car… disintegrated, we were practically stranded in the battle zone. Buildings, cars, and rubble blocked various routes to get out of the city as well. The G.U.N. soldiers that we _were_ aware of are fighting against the aliens. To step in the line of fire was automatically a stupid idea. So the most important question based on our survival remained:

_Where the heck do we go?_

Leo interrupted my thoughts. "Do you think Sonic is in the city right now?"

_Sonic… I haven't seen him in a while._

After the Space Colony ARK incident, I had only seen Sonic one other time, 5 months later. It was by chance; my little brother Ricky and I were riding our bikes around the neighborhood. Sonic zoomed by, recognized me, and stopped to chat. The look on Ricky's face meeting the world's fastest thing alive was priceless, and I was glad to see him again, too. He actually hung around with us for a little while, pushing our bikes down the road (but not nearly as fast as he would like to go), and generally just catching up. Sonic said things were quiet recently, nothing from Dr. Egg-brain to report about, which was odd. Then, all three of us heard a plain overhead—it was _The Tornado X,_ Tails' plane. Apparently, that was Sonic's cue that he spoke too soon, Eggman was at it again. He waved, and said he'd see me around.

Sonic's been pretty busy, since then. There were numerous reports of Eggman's attempts to take over the world. AGAIN. There was never a dull moment for Sonic, which is how he likes it, I suppose. The obvious known fact about Sonic: he can never stand still for too long.

After that… I was placed in the research facility, and didn't have a lot of media contacts with the outside world for a while.

_I wonder… does Sonic know anything about Shadow? Like how he came back? I know he's alive, but…_

Suddenly, my head started to feel… weird. I couldn't describe it, at first. It was as if my head was "buzzing." The sensation is not something I would call pleasant, but it didn't feel like a good thing, either. It started from the base of my spine, and shot up to my head, like a beacon.

In shock, my hands clutched the side of my head.

"Whoa, Ruby!" Leo put his hands up, to ready himself if I was about to collapse or for all he knew, explode. "What's wrong?!"

I had felt this sensation before. This was exact same sensation I felt when I held a Chaos Emerald in my hands six months ago. It wasn't nearly as strong, but it was the same. My eyes and the rest of my body, seemed to be under the influence of the buzzing, and I shifted towards my right, the direction of a clear path.

_Is this weird feeling making me react to a Chaos Emerald._

Then everything clicked.

A Chaos Emerald meant that G.U.N. would be looking for it. Or if we were lucky, maybe even Sonic or the others. This would also explain the invasion. The aliens could have an interest in the Emeralds, too. Maybe that was the sole reason why they were here.

"Leo," I turned towards my blonde friend, with a very small, but stable determination rising through my chest. "I have an idea. We need to find a Chaos Emerald. And I think I know where one is."

* * *

**Don't worry, Ruby and Shadow WILL reunite. Soon. Expect the next chapter to appear in the New Year (January)! I hope you all are have a wonderful holiday! **

**P.S.-I got an Xbox for Christmas and with it, **_**Sonic Generations**_**! I'm surprised how much I am enjoying the game (didn't beat it yet). Ahhh, it's just so nostalgic, I love it! Certainly one of the better Sonic games that I've played within the past few years. **_  
_


	3. Hello Again

**So much for "getting this done by January." Whoops…! You know, the older I get, the more time I need to write ONE chapter. I wonder why that is?  
**

**Disclaimer: Sonic, Shadow, and Co. are owned by Sega. Ruby and Leo are owned by me.**

* * *

Hello Again

I think Leo was questioning my sanity at this point. Not that I could blame him. This defiantly wasn't the smartest idea I had, but it was the only chance we had at finding safety.

I learned in school that the safest place in the storm was the "eye." That's where Leo and I were heading… I think. I continued following my "head," and as expected, the somewhat fuzzy feeling grew stronger. It was becoming less "fuzzy" now. My head was starting to throb now, but I could handle it.

I led the way, jogging at a cautious pace through the destroyed city, as Leo kept up.

"Now," Leo began, still jogging up to speed, "you're sure that this _is_ a real Chaos Emerald that you're following, right?"

"I'm pretty sure." I answered.

"'_Pretty sure'_?" He asked skeptically. He paused for a moment, and then took back his statement. "Well, I'll take 'pretty sure' compared to having no clue at all."

"Gee, thanks for the boost of confidence."

"Just looking on the bright side of life!"

"You mean whatever is left…"

After the words left my mouth, I heard Leo make a very soft, but depressed sound. My statement must have stung him more than I intended.

_Way to go. Good job, Ruby! Let's be a dopey-downer on top of the fact that we are going through an alien invasion!_

"You know, you used to be a lot happier than this." Leo's voice sounded flat. Like he was disappointed.

He voice sparked something negative in me.

"What?" I spun around mid jog, eventually slowing to an abrupt halt. I used all of my emotional strength I could muster to ignore the throbbing.

Leo stopped short in front of me. "I'm not saying you should be happy right _now_ in this situation. But you were _always _the one who tried to tackle a problem looking for the good side of things."

I couldn't help but to find Leo's words puzzling. Especially with the time-frame that he spoke in, using past tense phrases. Was he saying I "used to be happier dealing with a problem?" He wasn't making much sense. I couldn't help but feel insulted.

"What are you _talking_ about, Leo?" My fists curled into balls at my sides.

"I mean, you know," Leo scratched his head nervously, his eyes darting from place to place to find the words to restate himself, "as stupid as it sounds, you used look at the silver lining of every cloud before you gave up. But recently—actually, for a while now, you're just so easy to quit! Like, as soon as someone tells you that you can't do something, you just take it. You don't ask 'Well, why not?' like you used to. Do you see what I'm saying?"

To be perfectly honest, I think I did see what he was talking about. But I didn't _want _to see.

"Why… the heck are you bringing this up _now_?"

"Hey—you asked, I answered!" Leo put his hands in front of himself, almost ready to defend himself.

"So you're calling me a wuss." I put my hands on my hips and tilted my head forward. "Is _that _it, mister?"

Leo swung his arms in front of him, gesturing to me. "SEE! That's the old Ruby that I'm talking about!"

"Wh-what, what?"

"When you get mad like that!"

"I don't get _mad_ enough for you?"

"No, no, no, no, no, no… no." Leo was careful to pronounce every "no" with his right hand pushing outward each time he said it. He took a deep breath to recollect himself. "I mean your… well, your 'spunky-Ruby-ness.' Your attitude. During the past several months it just… went POOF!"

I slowly lost my gaze of Leo's ecstatic blue eyes. "My… attitude?"

_My Ruby-ness…?_

_When did I lose…_

Several sharp noises, no more than a half mile away, rang through the air.

Popping, like fire crackers, rang through the air. But they weren't really fire crackers.

"Aaaaand there's the second wave of soldiers!" I realized out loud. Upon the realization, the throbbing also came back. Even stronger than before. "That Emerald is _really_ close now."

"Really?" Leo had a little bit more hope in his eyes, which made us both forget about our argument for the time being. Or it was just enough to push it past us. "How close do you think?"

_If the "buzzing" is getting stronger now, that means the Emerald was probably moving around the city. G.U.N. must have kept moving it, but why? They should have just kept it in a really good hiding place. They have containers which can block a Chaos Emerald's energy from being detected, so why haven't they…_

_Wait._

"Oh, God." My eyes widened. I tugged on his sleeve, and turned him around in the direction we had originally come from. "Don't ask why, but we need to get to that Emerald _NOW__**!**_"

Leo nodded and pulled his brows together. He might have made the same connection I had just made, or he just had the same sinking feeling that I had. At the time being, it appeared we were on the same page again. But his words still rattled my brain to no end.

"…_you're just so easy to quit!"_

_My Ruby-ness went 'POOF,' did it?_

_Just you wait, Leo. I'll show you!_

* * *

_That blue hedgehog again._

That is what Shadow thought to himself when he heard a _very_ familiar voice call out to him as he ran across the landscape in search of one of the Chaos Emeralds. In his search, he came across Sonic, the blue hedgehog.

…Again.

The two hedgehogs had met once before, as Shadow remembered it.

He "woke up" in one of Dr. Eggman's bases, in some kind of life support capsule that was keeping him asleep. The first person he came in contact with was Rouge the Bat. She released him from his sleep. At the time, though, he had no idea who she was. Or at least, at first. He remembered opening his eyes, being confused and slightly dizzy. Rouge had an expression on her face that was a mixture of shock and relief.

Before Shadow could ask, he heard something that sounded like a machine in the far corner of the room. Bullets rocketed throughout the room where he and the bat were standing. He acted on instinct. He lunged at the white bat to save her from an array of bullets. He heard that capsule that was behind him explode. Had he not moved at that moment, he would have been caught in that explosion.

Questioning the bat would have to wait. First, he had to take care of the foe that was raining bullets on the two. It was one Eggman's robots, this one was more advanced and lethal than one of the Doctor's normal "Eggdrones." This was a killing machine. Not for much longer, though.

Rouge, momentarily shaken up, was trying to get a grasp of how this all came to be. Shadow was alive, after all of these months! She originally came to Eggman's base to find what she thought was his "Secret Treasure." Instead, she found Shadow.

…and this other bad boy that she accidently activated while turning on the main power.

It was clearly one of Eggman's designs; it seemed different from the other robots Rouge had faced in the past. This one was built bigger than most of the foot Eggdrones, and had longer arms, which extended into deadly claws that transformed into guns. She guessed he had even more weapons (and ammo) inside of his body. With something this deadly, she was sure Eggman would have used this creation against Sonic if he had the chance. But… why hadn't she seen Eggman use anymore of these models?

"**Must eradicate all Eggman robots!" **The robot declared as he was shooting at Shadow.

"Huh?" Rouge's giant ears perked up. Did she hear that robot correctly? Considering she was a _bat_ with _very, very good hearing_, she assumed so.

An Eggman robot that wants to destroy _other_ Eggman robots? Something wasn't right…

Rouge stopped the fight before it got ugly.

It was then that everything came together. With Rouge playing the mediator, she pieced together of why and how this all came to be.

The robot that attacked Shadow and Rouge was the last model of the "E Series"—Omega 123. He was by far the deadliest foot soldier created for Eggman's schemes to rid Sonic once and for all. However, through some unknown circumstances, Omega was sealed in the very same room that Shadow was held in. Or, more like abandoned. The reason for why Eggman locked him away was not made clear, but Omega seemed that a reason was irrelevant. He was determined to get his revenge on his creator.

As for Shadow, well, his problem was already obvious.

Rouge went ahead and decided that despite their rocky start, it was better to team up to look for Eggman together.

And that is where Sonic came in. Both of their teams had crossed baths during their travels. It was an interesting exchange of "hellos."

"Hey, Shadow! Long time, no see!" The blue hedgehog called out to his "friendly rival" with a smirk.

Shadow halted his pace to acknowledge him. "So it has, hedgehog."

It didn't surprise him that Sonic was here. The blue hedgehog had a reputation for being a hero. Normally, Sonic would be there to square off against Eggman and his plots to take over the world, like last time. Given Sonic's reaction during the first time they met (that Shadow remembered), Shadow had the feeling that the two met before. It was highly unlikely the two were friends, though. He had a pretty good idea why.

Sonic irritated Shadow right off the bat. Most of the time, anyway.

"So, did you come to join the party?" Sonic asked with a smirk.

"Not exactly." Shadow answered flatly.

"Aww, didn't get an invitation?" Sonic joked.

_Actually, that creature's words… It did sound an awful lot like an __**invitation.**_

Shadow brushed aside Sonic's smart remark with a shrug, and then added, "Maybe I just decided to see what was going on."

"Ooooh, crashing the party, huh? That seems more of your style anyway."

"Taking everything as a joke. How typical…"

"Actually," Sonic said in a more serious tone (surprisingly), "it looks like these black creatures are making a big of a mess of things. They're really wrecking the city."

"I guess, in your case, 'the party is over.'"

"Heh. Yeah, that's a real bummer." The blue hedgehog's green eyes flashed back with an arrogant smirk. "What's say you and I take 'em out?"

Shadow raised an eyebrow, considering Sonic's own _invitation. _Where did that come from? As arrogant as Sonic was, was he overwhelmed by the full scale invasion? No, that couldn't be it. Shadow hadn't known Sonic for too long, but Sonic wasn't the type to admit that unless the situation was dire. But maybe… he had a bigger goal in mind. Perhaps Sonic was planning on going after the leader of the aliens.

_If that was the case then maybe…_ _If I could confront the leader directly, I might get some answers. And a Chaos Emerald out of it. _

"Fine. I have my own business here as well. Just don't get in my way."

"No problem, faker!" Sonic shouted as the two hedgehogs raced the onslaught of aliens terrorizing the city.

Groups of G.U.N. soldier were attempting to hold up barricades to stop the alien's advance. With very little success. Of course, the black creatures had the element of surprise.

Shadow watched as one of the black creatures gunned down a solider with some sort of hand gun. It seemed to be some sort of laser. Shadow knew that the humans were hopelessly, pitifully, out gunned by a long shot. It would take a miracle to save the city. Which wasn't Shadows intention, since he was at a somewhat negative-neutral with the human population.

As the two hedgehogs ran ahead, taking out the aliens wherever they could, Shadow could feel the presence of the Chaos Emerald becoming closer and closer.

But there was something else.

It was very small… but there was another source of Chaos Energy that was close to the Emerald.

_And what could this be? Another Chaos Emerald?_

_No, it's too… weak. It's like a dank, little candle in a dark room. It couldn't possibly be the second Chaos Emerald._

_But… it's _very_ close to the Chaos Emerald that I'm sensing. Hmm…_

Shadow pondered for a moment to consider what his next action would be. Then, he decided.

_It couldn't hurt to look, since there's already one Chaos Emerald nearby. But why do I get the feeling that this other power is somehow… alive?_

* * *

"There it is!" I declared with an extra boost of adrenaline ringing through my voice.

Leo and I had been ducking in and out of alleyways, buildings, and multiple streets to avoid running into the aliens, since we didn't have anything to defend ourselves with. It took a little longer to get to where the Chaos Emerald of (since we spent half of the time hiding and running in circles to avoid getting shot), but we made it.

There were a group of soldiers in high already in front of a very large black, metal-like crate, and a huge, armored truck. They were lifting the crate with a fork lift. There was no sign of the Chaos Emerald, which I'm guessing was already inside that truck. That crate was _way_ too big for an Emerald—they just fit into your hand. Leo and I dashed towards them yelling "Help!" at the top of your lungs. For the first time during this nightmare, it looked like we were home free.

One of the G.U.N. soldiers who were opening the back to the armored truck heard our cries. He turned around, looking incredibly surprised, and ordered two more soldiers to finish loading in the crate.

"What the hell are you two still doing in the city?!" He barked at us, with a furious voice. "You should have gotten on the evacuation buses an hour ago!"

I couldn't help but feel small compared to this soldier, and slightly terrified. Luckily, Leo piped in for me, "Um, there _isn't_ an evacuation bus anymore, sir."

"No shit, you little smartass!"

_Woah! Language much?!_

It was at this time I thought that this soldier was a drill sergeant. He certainly was yelling like one. "Now where the hell were you two little sh—"

"S-s-sir, he m-means there _isn't any evacuation vehicles_! I-It got destroyed!" I managed to stutter out.

The soldier's face fell immediately. Maybe he was thinking about the driver of the vehicle… did he know him? Or was it the fact that the aliens where attacking escaping citizens that had him paralyzed? Either way, the soldier snapped back to his "drill sergeant face" and proceeded to give the other soliders.

"Private!" The sergeant ordered. One of the other soldiers ran over.

"Yes, Sergeant!"

_Well, looks like this guy really _is_ a sergeant…_

"Get these two kids out of the city, catch up with the other evacuees. And… check on the evacuation center at Nickleson Street."

It took me a moment to realize that Nickleson Street was the evacuation station where… the bus blew up. They were probably going to see if they could retrieve the soldier's body, or his dog tags.

I felt moisture starting to collect in my eyes. When I felt the sensation, I shoot my head rapidly, trying to snap myself out of it.

_No! Stop it, Ruby! Put yourself together. Don't start crying…!_

"You all right, kid?" Sergeant asked with a much softer tone compared to before.

Leo gave a light nudge on my shoulder. "C'mon, Ruby. I'm sure our families are okay…"

The sergeant tensed up at the mention of my name. He gave me a hard, intimidating look. "Is your name Ruby Gemmon?"

"Um, yes…?" I answered quietly.

Before I knew what was happening, the Sergeant grabbed my arm. "You, come with me, now!"

"H-hey! What are you DOING?! That hurts!" I did _not_ like how this guy was tugging on my arm, and I didn't know where he wanted to take me. I didn't plan on going _anywhere_ but to my family.

"What the hell are you doing, man?!" Leo yelled furiously. He ran up to hold me back against Sergeant's grasp. "Dude, LET GO OF HER!"

"PRIVATE! Get blonde kid out of the city!"

Another soldier went to make a grab for Leo. He thrashed and cursed, trying to resist the soldier's iron grasp. Leo even _bit_ him. Yup. Right on the arm. Leo had just _bitten_ a G.U.N. soldier. His mother would be proud. I actually mean that, given the situation.

The solider yelped, and yanked Leo off of his arm, making him release his grasp.

My stomach dropped. My head was swirling and everything seemed to be moving so slow. Why was this happening?! Why was he trying to split Leo and I up?! I just wanted to see my family! As babyish as it was, I wanted to cry into my parents arms. And I wanted to hug Ricky, my little brother again. I wanted my family. I wanted to me "normal" again. I didn't want to have this weird energy inside me.

I just wanted to be normal again.

I just wanted to be a normal… girl…

Who wasn't kidnapped by a black hedgehog…

…that became my friend.

…And see the stars and the moon from a space colony…

…overlooking the beautiful planet Earth, my home…

And in a very small way, I took part in saving it. By pleading with Shadow, somehow, I convinced him to give everyone on the planet a chance.

And I was scared the whole time. I was so scared I would lose my home. But more than that, I knew that Shadow wasn't "evil." He was just angry, and maybe a little sad, because…

…he lost his family, too.

Did I really wish for that?

Was everything that I had gone through over the past year all for _nothing?!_

_I really have lost myself. _

There, I had admitted it. Truth be told, though, I knew it for a while. I knew I became nothing short of a coward. Even though I was technically "free" from the research facility. But… was I really?

Right now, why else would I be singled out? Why were they separating me from Leo? And my family? Why couldn't I see my friends for three stinking months?! G.U.N. said they did it for my own protection and to get some answers. Funny how it only made me ask more questions.

I felt it in my gut what I had to do. Get away. Run and get away from here. But how?

"**THEY'RE COMING! THEY'VE FOUND IT!" **

One of the soldier's shouts momentarily stopped Sergeant from dragging me away. As he paused to look up with a horror stricken face, Leo took the opportunity to make his move. Leo lowered his head and muttered, "Sorry about this…" And buck-kicked the soldier (in a… very sensitive area), causing the man to fall to the ground. Even though I didn't lack karate training like Leo did, Aunt Topaz taught me a little in basic self defense. One of the best, but unlikely ways is by using hand pressures. Using my free hand, I grabbed Sergeant's hand, pressed my thumb as hard as I could, and twisted his arm back just enough for him to loosen his grip on me. Leo and I booked it as fast as we could. The soldiers didn't so much to stop us this time, which was a little odd.

When we turned around, we knew why. The next wave of aliens were coming through. From atop the buildings and from all sides, the fired small, hand held lasers toward us. The men didn't hesitate to fire back. Leo and I couldn't be out in the open like this. It was official; we were in the danger zone again.

"Oh holy sh—watch out!" Leo called out to me. Instinctively, I ducked, narrowly missing a narrow stream of light, coming from one of the laser guns. We needed to find cover, and fast! The only thing that seemed to be useful was the armored truck that was—

_Wait, of course! _

"Leo, this way!" I pulled Leo by the shirt, which helped him to his feet. We were within five feet from the truck before a laser fire caught me off guard, making me lose my balance. "Wha—Woah!" Falling forward, I landed flat on my face. Leo stopped, and scrambled to pick me up, but we noticed something was wrong with the forklift on the back of the truck. The control panel started to spark, causing the lift to give way and collapse on the ground. The crate didn't shatter, but had several cracks in it.

A green light seeped through the cracks, sending a warmth throughout my whole body. Then my head started to buzz again. It was the Chaos Emerald that the aliens had been looking for.

"Oh, no…"

The glow of the Emerald seemed to be noticed by the black aliens, as well. They were pushing through the G.U.N. troops' lines and were heading right for the crate!

"They're going to overrun the troops!" I yelled.

Leo tried to move his mouth to make a sound, like he was trying to come up with an idea. Nothing came out.

And then… one of the aliens fell down.

I mean, it just… fell. Like someone had dumped a back of bricks on top of its head. For a moment, I thought it had tripped. Then another alien fell down, this time, landing on its side. The other black monsters started to take notice, and were on high alert, temporarily forgetting about the Chaos Emerald.

The assault on the creatures was subtle at first… and then they all start dropping like flies! As each alien fell, they practically "exploded" in a cloud of black flesh and a dark, nasty purple cloud.

Only one person that I could think of at the time was fast enough to take them out that quickly.

"It's Sonic!" Leo and I said in unison, relief touching our voices. He certainly was a bit late on the rescue.

It came down to the last monster, who was swiveling in a nervous stance, twitching its head to every sound. Most of the soldiers were down, so it had to have known it couldn't have been one of them. For a split moment, the alien noticed both Leo and I near the crate. It made eye contact with us. And then…

_**BANG!**_

The gun fire sent a jolt through my entire body, the shock causing me to shut my eyes and cover my ears with my hands. The monster exploded on impact and fell to the ground. Leo and I's relieved expressions dropped like a hundred tons. Something wasn't right. I knew instantly that didn't come from Sonic… he would _never, ever _use a gun! I mean _**never!**_ He didn't particularly care about other people using them, but he wouldn't be caught dead using one of those!

"Oh my God." I heard Leo breath.

"Huh…?" I opened my eyes, hoping that it was safe. My mouth ran dry and my eyes grew wide.

_Shadow._

_Oh my God. It's… it's really you. I mean, I knew you were alive, but… I didn't expect to see you so… I mean… um, it's good to see you. Again._

That's what I wanted to say, but I remained mute.

Shadow remained silent as well, but he was looking right at us. Actually, he was rather expressionless. I took note of the glock (hand gun) in his right hand. The gun thing was defiantly new. Other than that he looked like the same ol' Shadow I knew. He had that same scowl that I saw the first time we met. I had half expected a scar or two from when he fell to Earth a year ago, but he was flawless. He looked exactly the same as he did before.

_How are you alive? I mean, I heard rumors and all, but, wow! I mean, you fell, like, a hundred miles to Earth! How did you survive that?! Oh! Does Rouge know yet? I heard from a newspaper article you were sited with her a few months back! And Sonic knows now, right? _

I really thought I was saying these things to him, but yet again, I still had the dumb-struck stare on my face.

"Um, dude," Looked like Leo found his voice again, "well, that was—uh, I mean—thanks."

Shadow didn't seem to pay attention to Leo. Or even care. His expression didn't even change. He his face was almost cold in a way. Well, Shadow was a cold hedgehog to begin with, but his face was just so… unrecognizable. He was never known to express his feelings or anything, but I was at least expecting a "Nice to see you too, brat."

"Hey, Shadow!" Sonic halted to a stop next to Shadow. "Did you find the Em—?" Sonic stopped midsentence when he noticed the both of us. His shock expression was a little funny, and cute. "…LEO?! RUBY?!"

Leo returned Sonic's acknowledgement with a full hearted grin. "Hey, Sonic! Long time no see!"

Sonic blinked, his smile kind of crooked with surprise. "Heh…" He let out an exasperated sigh once he composed back to his "coolness." He laughed a little. "Aw, man. I should have known you guys would be right in the middle of this mess! Considering all the _fun_ you guys have been though before."

"Hey, it's not like we go looking for danger!" Leo got up on his feet again. He grinned, trying to seem cool. "Danger finds _us_ and then we take it by the horns!"

"Before it stampedes over our butts and leaves us in the dust…" I added lowly. But it was enough for Sonic and Leo to hear me.

"Hahahaha! Ouch!" Sonic chuckled.

Shadow, not seeming interested in the slightest began to walk away. Even though the last time we met, we had only known each other for a short amount of time, I knew him enough to know that he didn't always get along socially.

Despite that fact, though… he was _really_ starting to piss me off.

My best friend and I had been running for our lives throughout the whole city; witnessing countless acts of terror, violence, fear, and an alien invasion; almost getting separated from my friend, AGAIN, from the government who kept me at a distance for months, almost got killed by the ugly black aliens, AGAIN, got saved by HIM, and now he was just walking away like it's no big deal.

After everything I had been through today, and now he's just walking away without a simple 'hello.'

I don't swear a lot like Leo does, but with everything leading up to this…

_**No. Way. In. Hell.**_

I bolted up from my crouched position on the ground and stomped angrily towards Shadow, my fists in balls at my sides, and my whole body shaking from rage and exhaustion.

"HEY! Wait just a minute! Sha—!"

Shadow didn't even stop. He just kept walking. That made me even _more_ pissed. Boy, was I going to let him have it! In a fit of anger, I stamped my foot and shouted at the top of my lungs. I might have looked ridiculous, but my pent up anger kept me from caring.

"SHADOW, WHAT IS YOUR **DEAL**?! IS THIS HOW YOU TREAT PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD FOR **ALMOST A YEAR**?! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, AFTER ALL THE CRAP THAT YOU… UGH! IF THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT PEOPLE THEN NO WONDER YOU—"

Next thing I knew, Shadow used his speed to stand directly in front of me, with the most bewildered expression I have even seen on his face.

"You, girl." His eyes flashed with alarm. and his voice was low and hard. "How do you know me? Who are you?"

"Wha…? Are you… are you serious?"

That was _not_ the response I was expecting. Leo stood perfectly still, unsure of whether to hold me back or not. Sonic grimaced slightly. I thought I was because of the display I was showing, but he seemed like he was, I don't know, sad or disappointed. It _had_ been a year since Shadow and I last saw each other, and I did grow up a bit from last time. But. I didn't think the made me _unrecognizable_.

"Shadow, it's _me! Ruby!_"

Shadow's red eyes narrowed, as if he was searching for something. It was almost as if he didn't recognize me. But that wasn't possible, he should have known it was me even if it had been a year.

…right…?

"You… _do _know who I am, don't you?" I asked nervously.

Shadow's eyes darted away as he crossed his arms

I think that meant "no."

* * *

**I'm back in school now, so sadly, it will take a while to write up the next chapter. I'm very sorry for making those of you who read this to wait. You guys have been so patient with me and I can't tell you how much it means to me! Thank you! Just keep an eye out for an update alert. I'll write when I can, which should be more often.**

**Polite critiques and comments are welcome!**


	4. Not Awkward at All

Not Awkward at All

To say that Shadow was confused was an understatement.

As he and Sonic were closing in on the first Chaos Emerald, he felt the presence of the second Chaos Energy closing in, as well. At the time, he thought it was a powerful enemy about to take the Emerald. But instead… he found two young humans. Children, really. A blonde, scrawny male, and a brunette female, huddling together, trying to escape from the aliens. Shadow could sense an immense about of energy coming from the metal container, which attracted the hoard of aliens.

Shadow wondered for a moment what two young humans were still doing here. Sonic said that the citizens should have been evacuated by now. And so close to the Emerald, too… they must have been at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Shadow sighed inwardly.

_It's not like I'm going to _let_ them become a meal for these hideous creatures…_

He knocked down the aliens as they surrounded the kids. It was effortless, of course.

_For all of the destruction these monsters have caused, they're not very sturdy._

Shadow smirked when it came down to the last one in the area. Before he took care of it, a dark, dense weapon caught his eye. A handgun, the ones the human G.U.N. soldiers carried. Shadowed thought for a moment whether he had ever used a gun before. He knew how they worked, at the very least. How hard could it be to use one?

To be honest, the reason why Shadow picked up the gun was just out of blatant curiosity. Shadow mostly fought with his hands and Chaos Control. If he didn't like it, he would just toss the thing.

Before the alien could blink, Shadow appeared behind it, and shot it in the back of the head. The alien fell on its knees for a moment before evaporating—or exploding—into a cloud of black and purple substances.

The kids, both a little frightened and shocked, stared at Shadow in bewilderment.

Shadow then remembered the second Chaos Energy source that was supposed to be around here. The one that felt "alive." He stared at the blonde boy for a moment. It defiantly wasn't coming from him.

So then… it was coming from… the girl?

The young, brunette human had eyes as big as saucers. Her lips quivered as if she were trying to say something. Other than her shaking, she was positively frozen. Perhaps she was scarred. Or just shocked. Maybe confused. Maybe a little bit of everything. Shadow took an extra second to study this girl. She defiantly had, to some extent, small doses of Chaos Energy pouring out of her.

_Impossible! Humans cannot control or carry the Power of Chaos within their bodies. But… I don't think she's carrying a Chaos Emerald either… so that just leaves—_

When Sonic finally caught up to Shadow, he made the connection that the blue hedgehog knew the two humans. He turned to get the Chaos Emerald, which is what he originally came here to do. He didn't have time for distractions.

Then the girl yelled at him. She seemed angry. She called him by his name.

_She… knows me! But why? And how?!_

Shadow's mind briefly flashed to the fragmented memory of the girl with blue eyes and blonde hair.

_I don't think she's "Maria," but…_

When he confronted the girl, demanding her name, the girl replied with desperation, "Shadow, it's _me! Ruby!_"

That name wasn't ringing any bells. Shadow echoed the name over and over again. Nothing.

"You…" The girl began with a shaky voice, "…_do _know how I am, don't you?"

Shadow recognized something in the girl's brown eyes. Her eyes seemed so sad—crushed even. For some reason, the sadness in her eyes tugged on something in his mind. He felt like he had seen these eyes before. Desperate, almost pleading, maybe.

He didn't like it. Hastily, we looked away. Shadow felt very uneasy for some reason. And, not to mention utterly annoyed.

* * *

Well.

This was awkward.

_Really _awkward.

And yet, it explained so much. No wonder why I hadn't seen Shadow until now… he had forgotten about me. And it wasn't because I had gotten older and grew up. He didn't… know who I was. At all. He did seem to know Sonic though…

But not _me_. Why?

Something must have happened to him to lose his memories, I was sure of that. But how? What or who did this to him?

"Ah-em." Sonic's feet made some sort of shuffling noise. Looks like I wasn't the only one who was uncomfortable in this situation. "Er, I hate to interrupt, but don't we have a Chaos Emerald we should be grabbin'? You know, before those black aliens do?"

_Oh, Chaos Emerald… right._

Shadow was a step ahead of all of us. He tore off the side of the crate with his hands, revealing the green Chaos Emerald inside of it. It seemed to be held in the center by multiple claws, and there was a weird, dark tinted glass encasing it, which appeared to be cracked. It was only a guess, but maybe that glass-like-case was what kept the Chaos Emerald's power from being detected as easily. Sadly, it didn't work so well like G.U.N. had hoped.

The Emerald gleamed in Shadow's hand, getting a little brighter before fading back into a normal state.

"Okay," Leo began. "So I think it's obvious at this point that the aliens want the Chaos Emeralds. So you and Shadow are collecting them before they can get them, right?"

"Well, kinda…though Shadow, here, was making a bigger fuss about it than I was."

_What? What is that supposed mean? Shadow gets his power from the Chaos Emeralds, I know that, but… does he need _all _of them?_

"Shouldn't you be taking these two kids to a shelter instead of giving them the daily news, hedgehog?" Shadow asked with his usual annoyed tone. "It's not the safest place for them right now."

"Right…" Sonic seemed to agree with Shadow, for once. "All of the citizens were evacuated by now, though… so there's no more transportation to go outside the city. I'll take you two to as far away as I can. There should be a group of soldiers closer to the outskirts and from there—"

"No!" I interjected. "No, no, no, no, no… no. _Bad_ idea, really, really bad idea!"

"Wha—uuuuuuh, Earth do Ruby Gemmon? How exactly is that a bad idea?" Sonic asked, bewildered.

I knew I was being unreasonable, but I was desperate at this point. "Sonic, just… just trust me when I say this. I _can't_ go back into G.U.N.'s custody. I just can't! Not after everything I've been through."

This caused Sonic to raise an eyebrow. "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. 'Custody?' Were you arrested or something?" Sonic was only half serious with his question, but my silence confirmed the truth of it.

"Long story short," Leo tried to explain, "Some G.U.N. soldiers tried to separate me and Ruby. I mean, _intentionally_. I think they wanted to put Ruby someplace… different."

"Separate you? Why would—"Sonic looked absolutely confused. All of us heard distant explosions coming from the north. We couldn't stay here too much longer. "Okay, guys. We're a bit pressed for time and I think a lot quicker on my _feet_. Ruby, did something… happen to you? What is going on?"

Before I could answer, Shadow replied.

"I'm not one to care about human affairs, but I think that when a pre-teen is oozing Chaos Control Energy, it might be considered a cause for alarm with some people."

My eyes widened with utter shock. "You can sense it?! You can sense my… the… it…?"

I shouldn't have sounded so surprise, with Shadow being "The Ultimate Life form," but the fact that he so blatantly stated my "big secret" like that scared the crap out of me.

"B—WHAT?!" Sonic lost his eased composure. He looked back at me, then to Leo, then back at me again. "When the…?!"

In this very rare moment, Sonic looked completely lost. For some reason, I thought that it would be easy for Sonic to catch on about my "condition," since he used the Chaos Emeralds multiple times to save the planet. But I guess just because he could momentarily tap into the Emeralds' power, especially when all seven of them were together, didn't mean that he was like Shadow. From what I recalled from my adventure on the ARK, Shadow was created partially out of the Chaos Emeralds, which is why he was able to control their power. So it made sense that he would be able to sense the energy of a Chaos Emerald without the use of sonar or some type of "Emerald Detector."

"Hmph, it doesn't surprise me that your powers of observation are pathetic," Shadow scoffed. "This girl obviously isn't _normal_."

Extremely irked, I replied, "Well. Look who's talking, Mr. Ultimate-Life form-Forget-Me-Not!"

Shadow's right ear twitched, but his head didn't move a muscle. He was purposely avoiding eye-contact with me, that coward. I knew this wasn't a time to be angry, but his comment, "This girl obviously isn't normal" threw me off. I was letting my temper get the better of me.

"Ooooookaaaaaaaay!" Sonic swiftly moved in front of me. "Name calling aside—Ruby, how long has this been going on?"

"Um, well…" I began, suddenly more uneasily. "I was technically in G.U.N.'s custody for three months. Maybe a little longer than that. Or a little shorter. Anyway, that was a few months ago. I haven't been back there in a while because, well… they don't know what to do with me right now."

Sonic was never known for his patience's, but I could tell he was listening to me very carefully. "'Don't know what to do with you…?'"

Shadow interjected, "She's a _human girl_ that has the same energy as a _Chaos Emerald_ inside of her—something seemingly _impossible_. You should know how humans react to unusual or impossible things. They figure out how to control it or get rid of it."

Leo's face flashed with anger on my behalf. "LIKE HELL THAT'S GOING TO HA—"

"Leo, Leo!" Within a millisecond, Sonic stood in front of Leo with his hands pushed out. "Calm down, dude. You know _tact_ isn't Shadow's forte."

I sighed, despite that Sonic was brushing off Shadow's words. "No, its fine, guys. Shadow's right. That's the government's job. Don't you remember what it was like when _you_ first got here, Sonic? The humans… G.U.N. didn't know what you, Tails', Amy, Knuckles or what the others were, so they tried to capture you to figure it out. That's just… how it is, I guess."

A brush of worry passed onto Leo's face. I couldn't help but notice that Shadow, who had his back turned during most of the conversation, had turned his head enough to look at me, too. Looking directly at Shadow gave me a knotted feeling. I knew this predicament wasn't his fault, but I just… couldn't look at him. And Leo was giving the worry/annoyance face that I hated. The kind of face that would say 'Ruby, you're being stupid, again.' I felt like I was nothing but a…

"All right!" Sonic's sudden declaration startled me. "It's settled, the kids are coming with us!"

"…Are you joking?!" Shadow's eye twitched rapidly.

"Nope! Scout's honor!"

"In case your common sense has left you, we do not have time to handle these kids and take care of the aliens."

"Then we'll take care of the aliens and be on our way."

"You don't think I'm going to carry one of them, do you?"

"Nope," Sonic vanished for a second until I realized I was being lifted off of the ground. Leo, too, was lifted off of the ground. Sonic had me set so that I was sitting on the crook of his arm, while he was supporting my legs, Leo was positioned the same way. "I got the kids, you go take care of the other aliens in the city before they get that Emerald. Easy, right?"

Shadow shook his head, seeming like he was giving up from further arguing.

"Hmph, fine. Have it your way. But I'm not going to be held responsible for their well being."

"Wouldn't dream of it, faker!" Sonic zoomed off at the speed of sound before Shadow could say another word. I was sure he wouldn't be too far behind.

The sudden rush of wind made me lose my breath, and I briefly flailed and held on top of Sonic's head. Leo gave a yelp as we whipped past the black aliens in zigzags, and dodging and jumping over debris and enemies. It was a rush unlike I had ever experience before. But I couldn't tell if I thought this was such a cool sensation or if it was just plain _terrifying._

Besides that, I was surprised that Sonic was carrying both Leo and I. I mean, Sonic was almost half, maybe a little more than half of our height. We had to be a lot heavier, too. Then again, this was the hero who has battle against armies robots to save the world countless times. I guess Sonic was a little stronger than he looked, though maybe not as physically strong as Knuckles or Amy's Pico Pico Hammer.

"Oh, yeah, Ruby," Sonic started, as he jumped on top of an alien's head, "You wouldn't happen to know where your aunt is, would ya? You know, the one I met last time?"

_Aunt Topaz! Oh, God, she has to be worried si—oh, God. Oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God… what if she's hurt? What if—no, she's fine. She's got to be. She has to be okay, after everything today. She _has _to be okay._

"Um, she, uh…" My mind scrambled, trying to subdue my worry.

"She said she would meet us near Sunset Hotel earlier," Leo finished for me. "The one closest to the beach. She might not even be there anymore, but…"

"Sounds good to me, let's head over there!" Sonic sped up faster.

There were a few aliens here and there, but Sonic did his best to ignore them. There were surprisingly a lot less of them this time—maybe G.U.N. was pushing them back now! Maybe we were starting to win! This needed to end soon, not only for the people of this city; but for my own selfish reasons, too. I didn't want anyone else getting hurt. And, since Sonic knew about my situation, he might be able to help me. Tails knows a lot about how certain machines that can harness the power from a Chaos Emerald. Maybe he would have a better chance at figuring out what was wrong with me.

As I was thinking about fixing my problem, I noticed another. Sonic seemed to… slow down a little. His face seemed a little, tired? No, more like he was really pushing himself, but was trying really hard to hide it.

"Sonic, are you okay?"

"Yeah! Course I am!" He was obviously not, his voice cracked a little when he spoke up. I felt the arm he was using to carry me with waver a bit.

"Wait…are we too heavy for you to carry_?_"

"Erk!" The look on Sonic's face was _priceless_. I guess for someone so fast, he didn't have a lot of physical strength, at least compared to Knuckles, who could lift up a train cart no problem.

"Hmph. So much for being reliable, _faker_." In one fell swoop, Shadow picked me up, relieving one of Sonic's arms.

"Eeeek!" I squeaked. I wasn't used to being tossed around from hedgehog to hedgehog as such high speeds. "P-please warn me n-next time you pick me up!"

"Duly noted." Shadow answered with a little sarcasm added on.

_Okay. Recap: Shadow is 100% alive—that is good. But he lost his memory—that is bad. But how could have this happened? Bump on the head? Did someone erase his memories on purpose? Any of those could be the cause. The last I saw Shadow, he and Sonic teamed up in their Super Forms to take down the Biolizard. Then, he fell to Earth. Maybe his body survived the impact, but damaged his head. But what if someone actually took Shadow's most important memories out of his head? Is that even possible? And who would do such a thing? And why? Most importantly, how much does Shadow know?_

Figuring it couldn't hurt to ask him, I opened my mouth—the worst he could do was ignore me.

"Um—"

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

"What the-?!" I felt a wave of energy pass right through my body, for only a moment. Then, Shadow screeched to a halt, and set me down. I nearly toppled over when my feet touched the ground. When I looked back at Sonic and Leo, I noticed that Sonic was moving incredibly slow. I mean, really, really slow. "What did you—"

"I used Chaos Control to slow down time. It's only temporary, but it should give me enough time."

"T-time for what?"

"Cutting to the chase—you know me. I want some answers as to the how and why. And the present would be a very good time."

Wow. Tact-much.

Shadow continued. "Let's start from the beginning. _How_ do you know me?"

This was nothing short of an interrogation. However, I wanted to help Shadow in any way I can. Maybe if I told him a little about the past, it would trigger something. It was a long shot, but I had to try. I began, with my voice a little uncertain, but steady. "W-we met about a year ago. The circumstances are… a little hard to explain…"

"Give me the short version."

"I'll try… well, you were and Egg—um, how should I put it…?"

"You mean the doctor…?"

"Dr. Eggman, yeah. You remember him?"

"Keep going."

"Right… you two, sort of, kind of… worked together for a short amount of time. Eggman had another plan to take over the world and you…"

"I was a part of this plot?"

"In a way, yeah."

Shadow crossed his arms, pondering for a moment. He looked back at me a second later. "What does this have anything to do with your involvement?"

"I was getting to that! I might have… stuck my nose into something that I shouldn't have. I accidently stumbled on some evidence, Dr. Eggman found that to be a problem." I was talking about the photograph I had taken completely by chance. It was dumb luck, really. I still wasn't sure I was able to snap a picture in the midst of Shadow's Chaos Control and snapped both of the hedgehogs in the same frame. But that was another story entirely. I continued, "He ordered you to steal the evidence from me, but I lunged at you as you were doing Chaos Control, so I guess I was a stow-away, so to speak."

"Which made me take you with me to this… 'Space Colony.'" Shadow seemed to be connecting the dots.

"…you don't remember ARK, either did you?"

"What's so important about a space colony?"

In my impatience, I blurted, "Everything! Shadow, that's where you grew up; in a way. It had everything to do with YOU! And you don't even remember anything that is-"

"_Kid."_ Shadow gave me a very low, threatening glare. "I don't recall saying I _wanted_ to forget the things that were once important to me. Do not ever assume that. _Got it?"_

My blood turned ice cold at that glare. I didn't move a muscle, I didn't even breath. I had no come back from his coldness.

His brow softened just a tad. "Look, I don't remember a thing about you or what kind of association we had. I _am_ sorry about that. I have been on a less than fulfilling mission trying to find the answers to my past. I also understand that in your case, you are in a somewhat similar position. I can sympathize with that. And I'm sure, that just like me, you didn't ask for all of these hardships to be put onto you. I will say this once and only once: I'm _sorry. _Now cut me some slack."

"…" I was speechless with Shadow's directness. But he wasn't being rude about it—he seemed to try to understand me to an extent. He put me in my place, but maybe, just maybe, it was needed. "Okay. I'm sorry, too…"

Time seemed to be moving regularly now. Sonic, who was still carrying Leo, skidded to a stop.

"Whelp, looks like we're here!" Sonic set Leo down. "Aaaaaaand look who else is!"

"RUBY!"

My whole body was on pins and needles when I heard the familiar voice. Without so much of a thought, I bolted towards my aunt's voice. This was it, my one good thing that happened for today.

* * *

The girl ran in a frenzy towards the female G.U.N. officer with short, sandy hair. This was probably the "aunt" that Ruby mentioned earlier. The two ran to each other and embraced with overwhelming concern and relief.

"Finally…" Leo sighed. "After all of this bull-crap, one thing turned out okay."

"Told ya." Sonic nudge Leo in the hip with his elbow.

Shadow thought for a moment about Ruby's words. He didn't get her full side of the story, but he did have an inkling to Dr. Eggman now. Shadow was always suspicious of the involvement of the doctor and his missing memories; now it seemed more probable to look into it even more. Before that, though… was to find the second Chaos Emerald. He suspected that this one was already in the alien's hands at this point. The green Chaos Emerald glowed brightly in his hand, meaning it was close by. Shadow made eye contact with Sonic, who did nothing but smirked back. Shadow took that as a "I'll catch you later" and ran off. The two kids were safe anyways, so there wasn't much of a point for him to stick around. He did briefly consider all that they have been through, and the girl's unique "power" that she held, if he could call it that. He dismissed it immediately and told himself that they would be fine. He had more important things to attend to.

Sonic noted that Shadow had already left. _He never was one to stick around for a conversation. I'll have to catch up to him later._

The blue hedgehog nudged Leo in the hip. "You two think you'll be okay if we leave you guys here?"

"Yeah, we should be. Thanks, man." Leo bumped his fist with Sonic's.

"No problem, man! And… I'm sorry about Ruby. I had no idea this was happening to her."

"No one does. It's strictly between Ruby and her family, me, and G.U.N.."

"We'll have to change that, won't we?" Sonic winked at Leo, as if he was telling him to keep a secret. "Tails' and I will do what we can after we take care of this mess. I promise."

"Thanks, Sonic. That means a lot." Leo smiled, and then switched his attention towards Ruby and Topaz, who were still embracing. The boy considered themselves as good as safe. Topaz was here, and she would take him and Ruby to where they needed to be.

As he walked over, Topaz took Ruby by the shoulders and shouted, "DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I'VE BEEN?! AND YOUR PARENTS!"

Ruby, on the verge of tears, shouted back, "IT WASN'T MY FAULT! THE BUS BLEW UP! WE RAN AROUND THE CITY LOOKING FOR HELP, THEN WE ALMOST GOT KILLED BY ALIENS, AND THEN SONIC AND SHADOW WENT OUT OF THEIR WAY TO HELP US, AND NOW YOU'RE YELLING AT MEEEEE!"

Topaz said nothing more a moment. Her face showed a mixture between anger, relief, sadness, frustration, and determination. She took a deep, long breath, and rested her hands on her hips. "You're right. It's not your fault. I'm sorry. When I heard you didn't get on the bus earlier I just…"

Ruby hesitantly moved her hand forward, feeling guilty for some reason.

Topaz put her hand to her face for a second, but as quickly as she put it there, she took it away, leaving a more reassuring expression on her face. "But you two are alright. That's what matters. Now, before anything else happens…" Topaz used her two fingers to point at Ruby and Leo. "You two. In the jeep. _**Now.**_ I'm taking you out of here myself."

"Okay." Ruby and Leo said simultaneously and quickly walked towards the jeep that was parked right next to the hotel. Sonic noticed Ruby's expression when she noticed that Shadow had already sped off. He saw pity in her brown eyes. She shifted her face, hiding her glance, and ran towards the jeep.

Sonic looked like he was about to speed off, before Topaz stopped him.

"Sonic, WAIT!"

"Uh—yeah? I don't mean to be rude, but I'm in a bit of a rush here."

"Ruby mentioned that Shadow helped her. Does he…?"

"Sorry, Topaz. Shadow doesn't remember Ruby either."

"I was afraid of that…."

"Is that why Ruby had no idea what was going on? I thought you or Rouge would have told her by now."

"She's… been going through a lot. I wasn't too sure if she was ready to hear about Shadow."

"Ruby and Leo filled in the details. If it's alright, I'm going to let Tails' know and see what we can do for her. Locking her up certainly doesn't seem to help, if you ask me." Sonic didn't mean any disrespect, but he was concerned for Ruby; Topaz could tell by the tone of his voice. "In the mean time, I'll buy you guys some time. Shadow ran ahead, so I can't let that faker get the better of me."

Topaz nodded. "All right. Good luck, Sonic."

"Catch you guys later!" Sonic zoomed down the street and out of site from the trio as he went to take care of the rest of the alien problem (unless Shadow had already taken care of the matter.

_A minute and fifteen seconds later…_

Sure enough, Sonic found Shadow in no time. It was no surprise that the black hedgehog had already found the second Chaos Emerald. The aliens had been trying to take it out of the city until Shadow came in and finish them off.

_Two down, five to go._ Shadow thought, holding the green Chaos Emerald in his left hand, the blue one in his right hand. He was beginning that this would be easier than he thought it was going to be.

Until the blue hedgehog ran up to him, "Now that was SWEET, Shadow!" It was a compliment, but Shadow couldn't have cared less.

Putting away the Chaos Emerald, he retorted back, "Yeah. Well I'm not here to save _you_!" He had what he came here for, anyway.

Sonic jogged to be in front of Shadow. "Thought you might say something like that! How 'bout a little friendly competition?" Sonic said half-teasingly.

"Don't waste my time." Shadow turned and folded his arms. He was in no mood for further delays.

In the corner of Shadow's eye, he saw a familiar octopus-shaped eye again, Doom's Eye.

_That thing again. What does it want?_

Sonic's eyes widened for a second, bemused. He wasn't sure whether to kick it out of the air or not.

It drifted to Shadow's side and then unfolded itself, fully exposing the yellow-red eye. It spoke in Doom's demonic voice, **"We found the third Chaos Emerald in this city. Our mission here is done. Now get going!" **As quickly as the Eye showed up, it "swam" away even quicker, disappearing into the scenery of the burning buildings.

_Hmph. Does it really expect me to take orders like that? Maybe he doesn't know I've been tossing his little soldiers aside so I could get the second Chaos Emerald._

Sonic listened to Doom's orders to Shadow. He wasn't quite sure why he had said that to him, but the mention of the third Chaos Emerald and that the troops were now going to leave the city peeked his interest. "Guess that means…" Sonic's mouth perked up in a cocky grin at the indication of a (non-existent) challenge, "…Welcome to the next level! Let's go!" Sonic dashed toward the direction the Eye had disappeared too, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.

Shadow glared at the trail and muttered, "Get back here!" As he pursued Sonic and Doom's Eye, he felt increasingly annoyed by Sonic's attempts to bring up petty competitions whenever he had the chance to. It was irritating; however, he admitted that they were never boring.

"Careful not to accidentally insert your foot into your mouth, hedgehog." Shadow suppressed a grin. With the third Chaos Emerald practically in reach, getting all of them would be easy.

* * *

Aunt Topaz's driving was scary enough. Her driving in a desolated city with debris and cracked concrete all over the road. I lost count of how many times I thought she was going to flip over the jeep. Most of the drive was in silence, she was concentrating on the road, Leo was listening to the radio broadcast of the invasion, and I was lost in my own thoughts. I really wanted to ask Topaz about everything. Now might be the only time that I would have a chance to. But, the words refused to come out. Maybe I was just being passive-aggressive and didn't feel like talking to her.

A faint, high pitched animal screeching snapped me out of my thoughts. I glanced around, unsure of where I heard that horrible sound. Until I looked up. It was more of those flying creatures, there had to be at least ten of them, and they were right above us. In a panic, I shouted, "LOOK OUT!"

"What the hell?!" Aunt Topaz's steering made the jeep swerve a bit before she was able to drive back into a straight line. "Ruby-!" She looked like she was about to yell at me, until she heard the horrible shrieking noise, too. She took out her hand gun from her holster, ready to fire if they should attack.

But… they just kept flying. They didn't even pay attention to us in the slightest.

"Aren't they supposed to be attacking us?" Leo was just as confused as I was.

"Keep your voice down!" Topaz ordered in a low voice.

They defiantly weren't going to attack us, there were ahead of us now.

"Are they… retreating?" I asked, holding on to a little hope.

"It doesn't look like a tactical retreat. More like a withdraw." Topaz took note out loud.

"What's the difference?" Leo asked.

"In terms of war: a retreat is used when you know your forces aren't going to win in the position they are in. A withdraw is a tactic to make your forces move back, giving the enemy more space. This could leave room to regroup your troops and strike back, or lead the enemy in an ambush."

"And you can tell that just by how these… ugly-dragon-things are flying?"

"They don't look like they're flying as if their lives depend on it."

The radio crackled, a male voice started to give out a report of some kind. **"Attention all ground troops! The Black Aliens are ensuing a withdraw! They have a flying vessel which is transporting a Chaos Emerald! Shoot down the vessel! I repeat: The Black Aliens are ensuing a withdraw! The flying vessel is in possession of a Chaos Emerald! Vessel coordinates are Nor—fffzzzzzzsschhhhh—and East 23—cccssssssshhhhhht-above Route-"**

The broadcast was cut off all together by static.

"Damn piece of crap!" Topaz wacked the radio with her gun. Her sudden anger surprised me a little, especially since she used the handle of her gun as club. "Sorry, I shouldn't have done that with my gun." She looked like she was about to put it away, until I spotted something else in the sky.

"That's okay Aunt Topaz, I think you still might need that."

Aunt Topaz glanced in her rearview mirror to see what I thought was a much bigger flying alien. As it got closer though, I noticed it wasn't an alien at all but some kind of… ship. We watched as it flew directly above us, it was heading towards the outer part of the city—meaning it was trying to leave with the Chaos Emerald. Aunt Topaz was quiet for a moment, considering what to do next.

"Ruby, Leo. I need a favor from you guys."

Leo and I blinked at each other, then turned back to Topaz with questionable looks.

"Buckle up and don't tell your parents about what I'm about to do."

She slammed on the gas.

* * *

**Semester is over, so updates will be more frequent. Now that I have a semi-life. **

**Anyhow, to make this story well-rounded, I plan to continue playing with different POV's (point of views) throughout the story. Let me know what you guys think about that. Any particular POV I should use majorly? Pros vs. cons? **


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